Barwon Banks 05/02

[SeaSaw]

I headed out to Barwon Banks early this morning. On today's trip I took my dad and one of his mates. This was dads first trip out in about a year after a hip replacement, so we were hoping his new hardware would hold up to it. Luckily the weather was near perfect ;D

There were some good fish on early, mainly pearlies, and we got quiet a few quality ones. :D We also hit a school of big Mowong :P and we were getting about 1 mowong ??? to every 2 pearlies ;D. The Mowong were all let go, as even the mother in law has wised up ;D

The fishing went dead a bit after 6am. We tried everything to no avail, so got out the trolling gear to troll the length of the banks while we relocated to another fishing spot. We got 5 strikes on the way down, but they were all Mac & Yellowfin Tuna. ??? Plenty of bait for next trip ;)

We only picked up a couple of extra fish after we finished trolling. Things were pretty quiet so we decided to call it a day and were back at the ramp by 11:30am. Good to meet Awesome at the ramp and also ran into Foxy heading out on our way back in ;)

Here are some pics from the day

[SeaSaw]

another pearly

[SeaSaw]

dad with a pearly

[SeaSaw]

These mowong were a nuisance, but good fighters ;D

[SeaSaw]

Last one, a 5.5kg yellowfin caught on the troll. Check out those glassy conditions in the background ;D

[620sf]

looks like you did better then us Mark,we left the ramp by 4.30am little later then usual and did'nt really have much succes out there. got one good pearlie and our first coral trout from the banks. Conditions where perfect, but bloody hot out there with hardly no breeze. Next time maybe

Luke

[Cheech]

Was thinking it was just me :( . We headed out to the Banks and was fishing from probably 5.30, for one Pearlie in the first hour or so. Then on a couple fo drifts we picked up 4 Bream. Travel 40km off shore to catch bream,, What the!!

At the ramp at 4.00am and had to park half way up the street. Was in a line of 6 boats nose to tail coming out of the river. Boats everywhere.

Mark, thanks for the bait. I saw you trolling on your way down from the north. Easy to identify with that black top.

One good thing came out of the day, as we found a couple of interesting fishy bumps, so looking forward to trying them out when the fish are actually hungry.

I wonder if it was all the boat trafic that had an effect as there were heaps out there and with the calm conditions,,,,

Cheech

[adamleah]

I was with Foxy when you saw us Mark ....

Good to see you boated some fish ....

We headed to the Hards again ... Surprised to see a lot of others with similar thoughts.... And found the going a little tough also ...

We had heard the current wide was strong , but no one told us it was roaring :o :o......think it was sitting at around 4.2mph ... Foxy can correct me if Im wrong.... Was so fast we decided on an early night instead of an overnighter...

Anyhow as always out there we got into some pearlies and caught a few snapper on our return in ... ;D Either Foxy Or Paul will post a report with pics .. I am sure ...

Sure was a nice day out there though .... Nil Wind and near nil swell ... Bugger that curent though!

[dfox]

Beautiful day on the drink mark, a bit hot at times thou! Hope your old man enjoyed himself, what a year for pearlies mate! Everywhere we looked they seemed to be! Hope to catch up with ya for a little longer then that brief meeting yesterday, catch ya...foxy

[SeaSaw]

Luke, well done on the coral trout :o, you dont get many of them ;D

Cheech, You were unlucky to have you first trip to the banks in your own boat on a day when the fishing was so hard. At least it can only get better from here ;)

Adam, 4mph current :o, i'm surprised you were able to fish at all. It was running about 2mph at the banks and we needed 12 ounce sinkers to get down.

Foxy, I agree it has been a top year for Pearlies, I thing they have been bigger and more plentiful this year [smiley=thumbsup.gif], I wonder if the new size and bag limits are starting to make a difference. I hope to catch up with you soon, it is a shame I can't get time off to go to 1770 ???

Cheers,

Mark